Tag: Democracy

The issue of prisoner voting rights is an issue that has been subject to vigorous political and legal debate in the UK over the past decade. For many on the right of the political spectrum this issue has become the target for frustration over the influence of European institutions on UK law and raises the fundamental issue of sovereignty. For those on the left it is symbolic of a battle against the erosion of human rights and signifies the pursuit of a more rehabilitative theory of justice. Continue reading “The Long Read – Prisoner Voting Rights”→

A few months ago this author wrote that enforced austerity in Greece was undermining democracy. That, even if loans were repaid and debts exacted, the political cost of pushing people towards anti-European and anti-democratic radicals, would be so much greater in the long run for the future of Europe that no monetary sum was worth the risk. Instead, it argued, Europe should give Greece the economic space it needs to grow. In the heat of this latest crisis, it is necessary to examine first whether this prophecy has come true, that of greater radicalisation, and also whether the prescribed medicine is still the correct one. Continue reading “A European Dilemma. Austerity or Democracy for Greece?”→

The European Project, a phrase that has dominated the news recently, is more and more conceived of as a wholly economic idea: a group of countries working together to ensure a free-market, neoliberal climate, independent of economic conditions. It is pursued whether it is a time of plenty or a time of destitution. Continue reading “Is austerity undermining democracy? A look at Greece.”→